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Euro 2016: Referee Martin Atkinson receives second group game

English referee Martin Atkinson will take charge of Portugal’s must-win Group F encounter with Hungary, while Szymon Marciniak of Poland has been handed Iceland against Austria at the Stade de France.

Previous experience: Atkinson was an additional assistant as part of Howard Webb’s team of officials at Euro 2012 (Picture from BBC Sport)

ENGLISH referee Martin Atkinson will take charge of his second Euro 2016 game when Portugal face Hungary in their final Group F match in Lyon on Wednesday.

The 45-year-old Premier League whistler will be in the middle as a Cristiano Ronaldo-inspired Portugal seek their first win of the tournament at the Parc Olympique Lyonnais (KO 17:00 BST, live on BBC One).

He will be assisted by Mike Mullarkey and Stephen Child, with Michael Oliver and Craig Pawson acting as additional assistant referees.

Aleksei Kulbakov, of Belarus, is the fourth official, while compatriot Vitali Maliutsin will be on standby as the reserve assistant.

Atkinson delivered an assured performance in his first appearance as a referee at a major international tournament, issuing just one yellow card in Germany’s 2-0 win over Ukraine in Lille on June 12.

The peak of his high-profile European appointments came in 2015 when he received the honour of officiating the Uefa Europa League Final between Sevilla and Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk.

He has also officiated Champions League ties in the last 16, quarter-final and semi-final stages.

Atkinson last encountered Portugal in their 1-0 friendly win over Argentina at Manchester’s Old Trafford in 2014, while he handled Hungary’s 2-0 defeat to Sweden in 2010 in qualifying for Euro 2012.

A former midfielder in the Polish top-flight, he became a referee in 2002 and eventually progressed to the Fifa list a decade later.

Marciniak officiated the 2015 Under-21s Championship Final and, last term, Real Madrid’s 2-0 win over Roma in the Champions League last 16 and Bayern Munich’s quarter-final first leg against Benfica.

The Plock-born whistler officiated four games during the qualification campaign – but it will be the first time he will oversee either nation.

Marciniak, who used to cycle professionally, only became a Uefa Elite Category official last summer and will hope to make another impression on the final day of the group phase if he wishes to prolong his stay.

Pawel Sokolnicki and Tomasz Listkiewicz are the assistant referees, with Pawel Raczkowski and Tomasz Musial acting as additional assistants.

England’s Mark Clattenburg is the fourth official and his compatriot Simon Beck will be on standby as the reserve assistant.

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